This invention relates to transport apparatus for a wheelchair on the roof of an automobile. The large number of invalids operating automobiles has generated substantial interest in devices which can be placed on a standard automobile and operated by the invalid without assistance for mounting a wheelchair for transport and retrieving it unaided at the destination.
The advent of the collapsible travelling wheelchair has facilitated invalid travel, but the use of rear carriers or trunk and rear seat stowage presume that the invalid is being assisted both at point of departure and at point of destination. This is a severe restriction on the freedom of the disabled person to travel. Consequently, small trucks and vans have been built with platforms that raise and lower the person so that he may wheel himself within and without the van. These accommodations are quite expensive.
Consequently, the need for a wheelchair stowing and transport apparatus that can be utilized with the standard commercially available automobile has arisen. Among the differing approaches to raising articles to the roof top of an automobile for transport are the cartop crane hoists shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,608,759 and 3,952,893 wherein the boom of the crane extends a considerable distance outwardly of the car and then rotates to deposit the article on the car roof. These type of devices require a substantial area between the automobile and any adjacent vehicle. Thus, they are not generally suitable for use in parking lots. Other types of car top carriers such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,531,006 and 3,139,203 are operational from the rear of the vehicle and thus are incapable of use by an unaccompanied invalid who must stow his wheelchair and then make his way to the operator's seat of the automobile.
One type of device that has recognized these problems is the side-hinged basket carrier disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,955 wherein a frame structure extends across the automobile roof top and down the side thereof. The basket carried on the top of the vehicle is supported by arms extended halfway down the side of the vehicle and this basket swings outward of the vehicle at the driver's side. Since the frame structure is extensive and utilizes the side of the vehicle, the rear door of the conventional four-door vehicle is incapable of utilization. However, the present invention is directed to a wheelchair transport device that is contained on the roof of the vehicle and does not extend outwardly of the vehicle to the point where it can not be utilized in parking lots. As a result, the invalid is able to park and depart from his vehicle in normal commercial parking facilities.